Storm or Fire Additional Plots
by ThePianosViolin
Summary: The main work in this series is Storm or Fire but there were a few other ideas that I've had so far that either didn't fit into the story or adding it would make the story too long. There is going to be absolutely no update schedule, as usual, so updates could be literal months apart. Hope you guys enjoy this!
1. Teaching

_Beginning of Chapter Note_

_Jonathan teaches Clarissa how to ride a horse.  
Jonathan is eight. Clarissa is six.  
Setting: late winter / early spring at the Morgenstern Manor.  
I took some creative liberties with this._

_End of Chapter Note_

_Guys please don't attack me for this. I've never ridden a horse before so this probably isn't very accurate but I did a lot of research so I could at least get the basics. And yes. Google told me that you should learn with a saddle first, but I needed a kinda realistic way for the fall to happen._

"What do I wear?" Clarissa asked. She was riffling through her closet while Jonathan was lying on her bed with his eyes closed.

Father had provided her with more than a sufficient amount of clothing, but problems would arise when she was unsure of what to wear. She was rarely left in these situations, but when they did happen, she found it really annoying and Jonathan wasn't offering her any helpful suggestions.

"Just wear something that looks like what I would wear." Clarissa's bed was starting to feel a little more comfortable than his. It was probably because his bed was starting to get permanent impressions from where he and Clarissa would sleep, and Clarissa would almost never use her own bed.

"But it isn't winter anymore and I don't wanna wear a coat," she moaned.

"Stop whining," he said harshly. "Take off your pyjamas and put on long pants and a sweater. Getting dressed isn't that hard."

Clarissa sighed. She already had a general idea of what she needed to wear, but there were a lot of options in her closet and Jonathan hadn't even opened his eyes yet. She figured that jeans wouldn't give her enough mobility, and it still wasn't warm enough for her to be in leggings for longer than an hour.

She finally decided on a pair of track pants, a looser sweater and a scarf. When Jonathan finally opened his eyes to look at what she was wearing, he shook his head in disapproval.

"You can't wear that," he said.

"Well you didn't want to help me," she said. "What's wrong with this?"

"You can't wear a scarf. It could get tangled in some of the equipment and I don't want to explain to father why I had to cut through some of your clothes."

She took off her scarf. "Better?" She asked.

"Good enough."

She smiled as she raced down to the stables. Father finally thought that she was big enough to ride her horse. For the past three years, she had looked on in envy when father first taught Jonathan the basics on how to ride, and then continued to watch when Jonathan learned the rest on his own through trial and error. When father was away, sometime Jonathan would let her sit behind him as he rode if she begged and annoyed him enough, but Jonathan always made her sit sideways because she wouldn't have been able to get her legs around the horse. Now she could finally ride her own horse, and face forwards too, instead of just taking care of her.

Jonathan had refused to let her name the horses when they get them, and in retrospect, she was glad. She had originally wanted to name them Brownie and Nay. Jonathan didn't appreciate her name suggestions and, instead, named his black horse Onyx, and her dark auburn horse Cinnamon.

She went to the tack room to grab a saddle, but Jonathan caught up to her just as she got back to her horse.

"We aren't using saddles today. Father says that you should learn without one, since you might not always have one. You can ride with a saddle tomorrow."

"What!" She exclaimed. "Why not? Can I please use one today?"

"If you keep whining then we can always wait until tomorrow. I'm in no rush to do this since father gave me two weeks to teach you." Jonathan waited for the disappointment on Clarissa's face to fade away. "Go put it back," he said.

Clarissa made a point of stomping her feet when she went back to the tack room.

"What do you think father would think if he could see you right now?" Jonathan yelled out to her.

"Father isn't here, and you aren't him so stop being so controlling!"

"Father left me to teach you how to ride, so that's what I'm doing. If you don't like it then you can go back to the Manor."

When Clarissa got back, she saw that Jonathan had already prepared his horse for her.

"I'd prefer if you learned on Onyx since yours wouldn't be used to anyone riding her without a saddle."

"Thanks Jonathan." That might've been the excuse that he'd tell her, but she knew that she was riding his horse because Onyx was already used to him and her horse was skittish enough around him when he had green eyes. She didn't want to imagine how she'd act if Jonathan was there with his black eyes.

"You'll want to wear this," he said, handing her a plain matte white helmet. "You can paint it later if you want to."

"Really? Thank you, thank you, thank you!"

Jonathan couldn't help but smile at his sister's happiness.

"Ok. Try to get up."

Clarissa looked at him.

"Without my help," he added.

Clarissa sighed and pulled out the large stepping stool. It took her a minute to get Onyx to stop moving around. She grabbed a fistful of her mane to keep her balance.

"Don't hold her there. She'd probably try to get away from you if you pull too hard, and then you'll end up falling."

Clarissa huffed and repositioned her arms to try and wrap them around the horse's neck. She couldn't even get halfway around her neck, but since she was forced to bend over, it was easier for her to swing her leg over Onyx's back.

When she had fully mounded, the horse started to move forward so Clarissa instinctively squeezed her legs together to keep her balance.

"It's going to be hard, but you can't squeeze her sides, or she'll think you're telling her to go faster."

Clarissa nodded and loosened her grip on Onyx.

"Rest your hands on the sides of her neck. I'll go slow, so all you have to do is try not to fall off."

She did as Jonathan told her, but even though it sounded simple, it was surprisingly hard to keep from sliding, especially since her legs were a lot shorter than Jonathan's and didn't go too far down the horse's sides.

Once she figured out how to adjust her centre of gravity and move with Onyx's rocking, she could start to enjoy the slow pace.

"Ready to go a little faster?" Jonathan asked.

Within the hour Jonathan had gotten her to go from a walk to a trot. She had been starting to get a little more comfortable with her balance when she started to notice that the insides of her thighs were starting to hurt. She took the chance of taking one hand off her horse and trying to get under her leg and cushion some bouncing.

Glancing back, he saw that Clarissa was trying to protect her bruise.

"Keep your hands on her. You'll get used to the pain eventually."

Jonathan took his eyes off his sister since he was more focused on staying on the horse's left side as he led her around a bend, so he didn't see her ignore his warning and put her hand back under her thigh.

She squealed as she lost her balance and started sliding down the right side of the horse. She flailed around to grab something and ended up catching the end of Onyx's mane. Onyx stood on her rear hooves, rearing and throwing Clarissa from her back.

Clarissa slid off and landed on her wrist when she hit the ground. She choked back a sob on impact but whimpered as she rolled onto her back. She was used to pain from sparring, but that was a completely different kind of pain that she wasn't prepared for.

Jonathan turned, annoyed that Clarissa hadn't listened to him and had lost her balance because of it.

"You're fine," he said without sympathy. "Get up and I'll help you back onto Onyx."

Clarissa couldn't do much more than shake her head and clutch her wrist to her chest.

Seeing her pain, Jonathan rushed over and pulled out his stele, but she had dressed to withstand the cool air and left no skin exposed.

He didn't want to try and get her jacket zipper down because even if he did manage it, she was wearing a hoodie that didn't have any zippers. So instead, he used his knife to gently cut away at her outerwear. He was trying to cause the least amount of pain possible by pausing every time she so much as winced when he jostled her arm, but he quickly realized that it would take far too long to cut through it while trying to be gentle at the same time.

"This really going to hurt. Try not to squirm too much."

"Wha-?"

Jonathan cut her question off by lifting her arm so he could get his knife under her clothes and force the tip through to the outside.

Clarissa screamed and tried to kick at him as he dragged the knife down, cutting out a large hole in her clothes and exposing her abdomen. He had to press himself down against her so he could keep her still enough for him to draw a clean _iratze. _If she kept fighting him, then he'd be more likely to mess up the rune and be forced to do it all over again.

Clarissa finally started to calm down when the worst of the pain started to fade away.

"Let me see," he demanded. If her wrist was broken, then he'd need to set her wrist properly before letting Clarissa redraw the rune.

He watched her face as he pocked and prodded different ligaments and joint attachment sites. If the majority of the pain came from when he pressed on ligaments, then she probably tore a few ligaments when she landed. If her pain came from the bones, the he'd know that she broke it.

He sighed with relief when he concluded that it wasn't anything more than a bad sprain.

"Here," he said while handing her his stele. "Look's like it's just a sprain so you can draw an _iratze_ and you should be fine."

Clarissa gripped the stele with her left hand and traced over the _iratze _that Jonathan had just drawn. She couldn't exactly feel anything being fixed, but she was more than aware of the escaping pain and was so relieved when she could move her hand without any pain.

"I know that you're bruising, but when you ride bareback like that, any little movement can throw you off balance. You're lucky that it was only a sprain. It could've easily been something worst."

She stood and brushed some of the dirt off her coat and pants. When she looked around for Onyx, Jonathan shook his head. "You're done for the day."

"What? No! I want to try it again."

"If you can't handle the bruising, then I think you need a break. You can try it again tomorrow, but with a saddle."

He cut her off again when it looked like she was ready to protest. "Go back to the manor and shower. We're done for the day and you're covered in dirt."

"Do you need any help with her?" Clarissa asked, referring to Onyx.

"No thanks. I'll be inside in about twenty minutes."

Jonathan had to spend a considerable amount of time calming Onyx down before he could lead her back to the stables. Onyx was young and when you combine that with whatever Clarissa did as she fell, well, it was no surprise that she was still so skittish.

He had to stand on the stool and reach to get the halter and bridle off Onyx's head, and then he had to manoeuvre the stool around her sides so he could wipe her down properly.

Father had initially taught him how to ride a horse with a saddle and he didn't progress to riding bareback for over a week. But this time, father had insisted that he teach Clarissa how to ride bareback first. She was still smaller than he had been when he learned, and her legs were still too short for her to keep her balance easily.

He couldn't think of any reason why father would want her to learn this way. It could just be his way of testing her, but father would only see the results, he would have no way of knowing if Jonathan had actually taught Clarissa the way that he wanted it done.


	2. The Pet

_Jonathan 10  
Clarissa 8_

_Clarissa wants a pet._

When Clarissa was eight, she marched confidently up to her father's bedroom door with her brother at her side at five thirty in the morning. She glanced at her brother's impassive face for support. If she didn't know him as well as she did, then she might think that he didn't approve of what she was doing, but the mere fact that he came with her, told her that he wanted it almost as much as she did.

She had changed out of her pyjamas and into one of the business suits that father had insisted that she keep, hoping that he would be more inclined to grant her requestif she looked professional, and she had forced Jonathan to do the same.

Personally, Jonathan thought they looked ridiculous, walking around the still dark manor in business suits and socks. But Clarissa thought it was necessary and right now it was easier to go along with it than start a pointless argument over something that he didn't even care about.

Clarissa took a deep breath and knocked on father's door. She's never done anything like this before, asking for something that was purely for pleasure, and she had no idea how father would react. He seemed to be at his happiest in the morning, before he started thinking of all the work that needed to be done for the day.

Clarissa heard fathers voice faintly through the door. "You may entre, Clarissa."

She turned the nob slowly; all her former confidence draining by the second when she realized that she couldn't back out now.

For a fraction of a second, father looked mildly surprised to see Jonathan standing beside her before he realized that Jonathan wouldn't let her do anything without him.

"It's very early children, this couldn't wait until breakfast?"

"Well, I mean it could, but, um –" Clarissa struggled to find the words. She regretted not rehearsing what she wanted to say before hand.

"Take a second to gather your thoughts, then speak, Clarissa," father advised. "I won't have you grow to be illiterate."

She took a deep breath to calm herself.

The worst father could do was say no. Those words repeated on loop in her head, trying to calm her raging thoughts, while she struggled to remember how to phrase her request.

She was lying to herself. She knew full well that father could easily punish her for waking him so early, but she was already here and there was nothing she could do about it now.

"I understand that this could have waited until breakfast, but I thought it better to ask now –"

"I thought it would be better," father corrected patiently.

"I thought it would be better," Clarissa repeated obediently, "to ask now so you could have time to think about your decision."

Valentine glanced at Jonathan. Whatever it was that Clarissa was going to ask, it was something that Jonathan wanted too, even if he was trying to hide it.

"Continue," he said.

"Since it's only me, you, and Jonathan who live here, and you're often away for business meetings, I was wondering if we could have a pet."

"What kind of pet did you have in mind?" Valentine asked casually. He sat regally like his bed was a throne, acting like Clarissa's request wasn't out of the ordinary.

Clarissa opened her mouth and paused. She wasn't sure what type of pet she wanted, she hadn't really thought that far ahead. She just wanted something to play with when Jonathan wasn't in the mood to do something with her.

"Perhaps a dog?" Jonathan stepped in. "If we train it properly then it could help us hunt." Jonathan had to hold back a sigh. He knew that his sister didn't completely think everything through, and like her, he thought that father would've refused their request before she even got to specify what type of pet, but unlike her, he came prepared with arguments and a defense in case father wanted better reasons.

"When you tame it." Valentine said. "The mundanes have a type of dog, a Labrador retriever, and it's considered one of the best hunting dogs. Consider it your next mission. Go to a mundane city and obtain a Labrador Retriever without stealing one. Stay as inconspicuous as possible"

"Really!" Clarissa lost her composure. "Thank you, father." She was practically vibrating where she stood, excited to get a pet.

"But," he added, "I don't want you using any runes except for your portal rune. All you'll have at your disposal are your negotiation and persuasion skills, as well as any weapons. You must go into a store, not a breeder, and convince them to let you adopt one. No runes and try not to make a scene. You have until tonight."

Clarissa was bouncing with excitement until Jonathan put his hand on her shoulder. "Thank you, father," Jonathan said calmly.

Clarissa ran back to her room and got changed into gear before her brother came in wearing plain clothing.

"You can't go in public like that. People will stare."

Clarissa changed immediately into something as plain as Jonathan's clothing, and just as baggy. Father said that they weren't allowed to use her runes, but he didn't say anything about using their weapons; they had to put them somewhere where they wouldn't be seen.

"What city? Can we go to New York? We haven't been there in so long? And it shouldn't be too cold, since it's May. Or maybe California? Or New Zealand?" Clarissa spoke quickly in her excitement.

"Nowhere in America. We're seen there too often and two kids on their own are memorable."

"How about New Zealand, then?"

"Maybe Australia. It's a little bigger and it's around twelve o'clock there so people will be busy and more likely to ignore us." Jonathan reasoned.

He handed Clarissa his stele and she drew them a portal to Australia. They stepped through and ended up in the middle of a crowded beach.

"Clarissa!" Jonathan hissed. They were, in no way, dressed for the beach. Two kids on the beach in shorts and t-shirts would be fine, but two kids wearing jeans and long sleeve shirts would draw a lot of unwanted attention.

"Sorry, this is the only place in Australia that I've seen before." For a moment, Jonathan regretted hiding his weapons on his forearms because now he couldn't roll his sleeves up to try and blend in. But that feeling was fleeting, risking being exposed and unable to protect himself wasn't worth the few minutes of inconspicuousness that it would bring.

The walked closely behind a large group of people who were looking for a place to sit in the sand. The group was large enough that no one questioned them, and they only stayed long enough to get to a more populated part of the beach, where they could walk around, and people would just assume that their parents were close by.

Once they got off the beach, it didn't take them long to find a pet store, but Jonathan just walked past it.

"Where are you going?" Clarissa questioned. "We need to go there." She pointed at the store.

"We don't have any money Clarissa, and when we convince them to let us buy a dog, there's no way they'll just give it to us for free."

"We can't just go to a bank or something, I'm not allowed to use my persuasion rune."

"Father didn't say anything about intimidation. We'd just need to get a quick change of clothes first."

Jonathan and Clarissa walked calmly into the first department store that they saw and found clothing similar to what they were already wearing, but they also got two masks. This was one of the rare times that being so young was an advantage, an adult on their own buying children's masks could be suspicious, but no one would think twice about it.

They avoided the cameras in the store and put the black clothes on under what they were already wearing. Both of the masks were so slim and flexible that they slid easily under his shirt.

Clarissa grabbed two backpacks off hook that belonged to an outdoor vendor and gave one to Jonathan while she threw the other one over her shoulder. A quick stop in a nearby alley let them hide their plain clothes and the second backpack for them to come back to later. They slipped on the masks and walked out the other side of the alleyway.

The bank wasn't far from where they were, but they still attracted some weird looks as they walked down the street.

Clarissa walked up to the first open teller, Amanda, her nametag read, who immediately looked suspicious, while Jonathan discretely unsheathed a combat knife.

"Hi," Clarissa said sweetly. "I'd like five thousand dollars please."

Amanda shifted uncomfortably behind the desk. She knew that two children wearing masks and asking for this much money was not going to end well, but she continued calmly.

"Do you have an account with us?" She asked. She had just shifted her a chair a few minutes ago and with the way she was sitting, wouldn't be able to reach the silent alarm without looking weird and suspicious herself.

"You misunderstood me," Clarissa said. "I don't need an account. But what I want is five thousand dollars. Right now." There was a sharpness to her voice that shouldn't exist in such a young child.

The other customers were trying to inch themselves away from the two children without drawing their attention, unfortunately for them, not all of them were as discreet that they wanted to be.

Jonathan grabbed a man near him that wasn't able to get far enough away and put his knife to his throat. "If you don't give us the money, we'll start killing people until you do." He said harshly.

The teller froze.

Jonathan slit the man's throat.

Silence erupted in the bank. Everyone that was trying to move away froze; all of them starring but too afraid to even breathe.

Jonathan waved his bloody knife. "I'm being serious. You have ten seconds or she's the next one who dies." He stalked over to a girl who couldn't have been much older than him. "Anyone moves other than the kind lady who's about to hand my sister the money, dies."

Clarissa smiled sweetly under her mask and held out her hand. "The money. Now please." Amanda moved her hand towards the cash register slowly. Clarissa watched closely to make sure that she wasn't going to try anything. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw a different teller, a man a couple stations down from Amanda, eyeing a spot just under the counter, she was sure that it had to be a silent alarm.

Without hesitating, she pulled her knife out from her sleeve and whipped it across the room, impaling the man in the neck and killing him instantly.

"We weren't joking when we said that no one should try anything. All this lovely lady," Clarissa indicated to the teller, "has to do is give us the money and no one else gets hurt."

Amanda hurriedly shoved the money into Clarissa's hand, and she packed it into her backpack.

She leaped easily over the counter with unhuman like ease to recover her knife and then jumped back over.

"We're good," Clarissa said to Jonathan. "Let's go before the police show up."

Jonathan let his sister leave the building first and he followed her out while still holding his knife to the girl's neck. Once he was outside, he pushed the girl aside and raced down the street beside his sister.

Once they were sure they lost any possible tails and weren't seen by any surveillance camerars, they made their way back to the alley where they put their clothes by rooftop.

They changed back into their plain clothes and changed backpacks too, ditching their recently acquired black clothes in the dumpster.

"We didn't think this through."

"What do you mean?" Jonathan asked.

"We can't go and buy anything with five thousand dollars in cash. Not after the police will be looking for two kids with a few thousand dollars. We'll be found in minutes and we'll have to kill too many people to get out without using our runes. Father said that we needed to stay discreet."

"Then we could go to New Zealand. Same time zone, different country. If we get there within the next hour, the news shouldn't have spread that far yet." Jonathan suggested. "Can you portal us there?"

"Well not yet. I just need a picture or a video or something so I can get us there." She said. "I need a computer."

"Let's find one quickly, I don't want to stay here longer than we have to."

They found an apple store in one the malls near them and Clarissa used one the instore iPads to pull up a YouTube video.

"Do you need any help?" Someone asked from behind them.

"No thank you," Jonathan said. He shifted to try to block the screen from the employee. The police would be able to connect to dots eventually. A bank was robbed and then two kids fitting the description of the robbers are found looking up videos of a different country. Then two kids are found in that same country with an obscene amount of cash. The case would never be closed, but that was still a lot more evidence than Jonathan wanted to leave behind. "We're just waiting for our Dad. He's picking us up in a bit."

Clarissa was intensely watching a video from a New Zealand vlogger, trying to learn the scenery so she could replicate it for her portal.

"Alright, well let me know if you guys need help or anything."

"Dad should be here by now," Clarissa cut in. "Thanks for your help though." Clarissa grabbed her brother and dragged him out of the store.

"The news was playing a part of the security footage from our robbery. People were going to recognize us," she hissed.

They stopped trying to stay inconspicuous and ran into the family bathroom as people were starting to point and stare.

"I saw enough of the video to get us there," she said while drawing the rune on the wall. It wouldn't be long before people started calling the police. Father said that they needed to keep a low profile, but it was too late for that now.

They stepped out into the backyard of someone's home.

"I thought you said you could get us there."

"I did. We're in New Zealand, but I don't know the area well enough to go wherever I wanted without risking ending up in the middle of a public area again," Clarissa said. "And I used a map to find a pet store. And we're a ten-minute walk away. We could be home within the hour."

The pet store that Clarissa was talking about only had two people working there, the shelves were dusty, and it looked like they were about two months away from going out of business.

"You chose a good place," Jonathan praised.

Clarissa beamed.

"Hi," Clarissa said cheerfully to the cashier. "What kind of dogs do you have."

"We have a Chihuahua, Labrador Retriever, Boxer, and a Beagle." The cashier said condescendingly.

"Can we play with the Labrador?" Clarissa asked. "I've always wanted one."

The cashier glanced around the store. "I don't see why not."

She led them to the back at the store where the dogs were lying quietly in cages.

She opened the cage and attached the Labrador Retriever to a leash. "This is him. He's only a few months old so he might nip at you, but that means he just wants to play."

The puppy sniffed at their ankles and bounced around them, excited to be let out of the cage.

A small dinging sound rang out as someone else walked into the store. The cashier looked up to see who it was.

She handed to leash to Jonathan. "I'll be back in a minute," she said.

Clarissa was too entranced by the puppy to pay anymore attention to the Cashier.

The puppy acted how puppies usually do; running around wherever it could reach from its short leash, sniffing at anything and everything, trying to jump up on Jonathan.

"What do you think Jonathan? Because I like him, and I think father will too."

"Father won't care what we get as long as it's obedient," Jonathan said. "And this one doesn't look too obedient."

"Can we please get him?" She asked excitedly. "It won't be too hard to train him."

It might be beneficial to get an untrained dog, that way they could do what they wanted. "Sure, we can get him."

Clarissa looked up to make sure that the other person had left the store before grabbing the leash from Jonathan and running to the front of the store.

"We'd like to buy him."

"Oh, I'm sorry sweetie, but he's a little expensive."

"Exactly how expensive is he?" Jonathan asked.

"Sixteen hundred. If you want to come back with your parents, we can talk about everything then and fill out the paperwork."

Clarissa slid the backpack off and opened it for the cashier to see. "Or we could just buy him now and forgo the paperwork."

The cashier's eye widened considerably. "H – How did you get all that?" It looked like the last thing she wanted to do was let them walk out of the store with that dog.

"It doesn't matter. To me, it looks like this store is going to close in a few months, at best, and you'll be in need of a new job."

"I don't – I'm sorry. You'll need an adult with you to buy him." The cashier reached for the leash. "And this is the wrong currency."

Jonathan let the knife slide out from under his sleeve. "I don't think we'll be needing an adult and if you know what's good for you, you'll just take the money. All you have to do is let us leave with the dog or we could take the dog and the money and leave you with nothing. There's more than enough in there to cover his cost, even with the exchange rate."

Clarissa took a couple hundred dollar bills out of the backpack to stuff in her pocket and threw the backpack with the rest of the money on the counter. "Thanks for the dog."

They walked out of the store with the dog tugging eagerly on the leash.

"We need to get it food," Jonathan said.

"We can just feed him our food, but with some more meat. And we have the wrong currency. I can't believe that we forgot about the different currencies."

Jonathan went to clean of their knives and Clarissa went to clean their dog up.

When Jonathan went back to Clarissa's room, the Labrador's coat was black and shiny, but he was still pulling at the leash. They walked it into their father's office.

Valentine looked on, disapprovingly. "I heard about a robbery in Australia. The funny thing was that the tallest was barely five feet tall, they used knives, and killed two people." His voice was cold and unassuming, but it sent shivers down her spine. It was the voice father used when they were about to be punished. "They were both young, one with long red hair and the other with short white hair." Valentine stood and slammed his hands down on the desk and stood. "I told you to stay inconspicuous," he said harshly.

"You also said that we weren't to use any runes, like Clarissa's persuasion rune. And we needed the money."

"Come here," Valentine said.

Jonathan took a few steps forward to stand in front of his father.

Valentine slapped him across the face, hard enough to cut and bruise the side of his face, and knocked him off his feet.

"I either speak to me with respect, or you do not speak at all."

The dog started whining and pulled at the leash.

Valentine stood over his son and watched him recover from the blow.

When Jonathan was able to stand, he took his place back beside his sister. "I'm sorry, father," he said weakly.

"As I was going to say," Valentine continued. "Your next task is to train it. I want it to be able to hunt with you within the month." He sat back down at his desk. "You're both dismissed. Get out of my sight."

Clarissa had to pull the dog out of father's office.

"We need to name him, I don't want to keep thinking of him as 'the dog'," Clarissa said. She drew Jonathan an _iratze _to heal his face.

"What were you thinking of naming him?"

"Maybe Rocky? He's a cute black puppy."

"We are not naming our dog 'Rocky'," Jonathan said.

"Then what do you suggest?"

"Give me some time to think about it."

They started training the dog right away. And with a good punishment and reward system, their dog loved peanut butter, he was house trained in days and obeyed their commands within the week.

"Come," Clarissa said gently. She held out her hand, holding a few strips of steak in it, and the dog, which Jonathan named Storm, ran over to her. "Good boy," she praised.

It was obedient, came when it was called. Sat when it was told. Was quiet unless told otherwise. And Clarissa eventually gave in to his whining and allowed it to sleep in Jonathan's bed with her.

"We could bring it hunting with us today," Jonathan suggested. "Now that we know he won't run away."

"What do you say, Storm," Clarissa said in the high voice that was reserved for her dog. "Wanna go hunting today?"

Storm's head perked up from his paws and he stood on the bed.

"Clarissa, it's supposed to be a weapon. Not a pet," Jonathan scolded.

"Why can't he be both. Nothing says that we can't love him and use him."

Jonathan sighed. Father would disagree, but as long as he was trained to hunt, father shouldn't mind too much.

Jonathan and Clarissa stopped by the training room to grab their bows and quivers and took their horses out to the woods. When Jonathan thought that they were far enough from the Manor but still far from any where else that no one else would be able see them.

In their many hunts in the next few months, many of them in mundane territories, their dog performed well. He was such a good tracker that Clarissa didn't even need to use her runes to find a demon that they lost track of.

When not training or on a mission, Clarissa spent a lot of time playing with Storm instead of spending her time studying and learning.

After a year of taking their dog on some of their hunts and Storm working well with them, Clarissa only realized her mistake when it was too late.

Jonathan and Clarissa were practicing their archery on some of the wildlife. Clarissa held up her bow, tracking a lynx as it moved cautiously through the forest, aware that it was being followed, but not knowing where its predator is.

The lynx stopped directly behind a tree, blocking it from Clarissa's vision. But from her perch on the lower branches of a tree, she wouldn't be able to move without scaring it away.

Storm moved obediently beside Jonathan as he moved, not a step in-front or behind him. Jonathan maneuvered himself so he was about fifty meters away from Clarissa and kept the lynx in his line of sight. Jonathan glanced at his sister, making sure that she understood what he was doing. He picked up a stick from the ground and hurled it to the right of the lynx, driving it out from behind the tree and into Clarissa's line of sight.

The second the stick left his hand, Storm barked excitedly and took of after the stick, scaring the lynx and causing it to move unpredictably.

Even a brief lapse in Clarissa's focus could end with her shooting Storm instead of the Lynx. She tracked the Lynx as it ran, watching as its path crossed with Storm's too often for her comfort.

The arrow flew through the air and impaled the lynx through the foot. Clarissa loosed another arrow and this one landed through the lynx's stomach instead of her intended target of its head because of its flailing.

Clarissa called their dog back to her and he came running with the stick in his mouth.

Jonathan pulled the arrows from the Lynx and examined it. "Father will not be pleased."

"It wasn't Storm's fault. You threw the stick and he thought you were playing." Clarissa's defense was weak, and she knew it, but Storm loved to chase sticks couldn't have known that they were just there to hunt.

"Try explaining that to Father." Jonathan dropped the animal at his feet. "Storm, pick it up." The dog lightly grabbed the lynx by the scruff of its neck and dropped it by one of the back doors.

Jonathan and Clarissa changed into more casual clothes and then went to see their father in his office.

"How was the hunt?" Valentine asked.

"It didn't go exactly as expected but it was still successful." Jonathan continued by outlining what happened.

Valentine glanced down at the dog, obviously displeased.

"Father, please –"

"Do not beg, Clarissa. It's indecorous."

"Father," Jonathan tried.

Valentine sent his son a wither glare, instantly reducing him to silence.

"I told you to _tame _it, not _break _it." He said. "So, now that it's useless as a weapon, either one of you have to kill it, or I will."

Storm curled itself around Clarissa's foot and started licking at her ankle, unaware that something was wrong.

Jonathan knew that if father was the one to kill their dog, it would suffer needlessly, and he didn't want to force his sister to kill something that she loved.

In one swift movement he reached down and snapped the dog's neck before it could even register that something was happening.

He heard Clarissa choke back a sob as Storm fell limply to the ground.

"I didn't want to encourage unnecessary slaughter, but you needed to learn a lesson. I trust that my intended message has been conveyed."

Jonathan stepped back and let his arm brush his sister's.

"We understand," he said while Clarissa nodded silently, unable to tear her eyes away from their, now dead, dog that was still curled around her foot.

"Good." Valentine stood and nudged its body with his foot. "Dispose of it."

Jonathan shifted Storm's body to block Clarissa's view of their dog and waited until father left. He sighed and glanced back at the dog's body before looking at his sister.

"Go to my room you don't need to watch this. I'll deal with it."

"I'm sorry," she said, her eyes rimmed red. "I didn't think that father would kill him. It was just a mistake that we could've fixed."

"And what if we were hunting a demon instead of an animal? That mistake could've cost us our lives," Jonathan said. "This is what father wanted from the beginning. He wanted you to learn that you can't let your feelings get in the way of your mission."

"He killed our dog."

"No, I killed him, but you're the reason he's dead. You got attached and treated him like a pet and not a weapon. But it's better that you learn this now rather than when it really matters."

Clarissa starred at the only part of Storm's body that she could see, his paw, and avoided her brother's eyes.

Jonathan lifted her chin to look her in the eyes. "Next time –."

"Next time I won't get attached," she cut him off. "I learned my lesson. It isn't worth it."

"Go to my room." Jonathan turned around and lifted the dog over his shoulder to bring it outside.

Clarissa let a tear run down her face before she wiped it away, settled her emotions, and followed her brother outside.


	3. Little Bird

_Jonathan 7  
Clarissa 5_

Jonathan had two years of training and strength on Clarissa and as much as he liked her, watching her frustration was one of his few sources of joy.

"Come on, Little Bird. Are you even trying?" He teased.

Jonathan leaned back to avoid the sharp end of her sword.

Father insisted that they both learn all the weapons that he had in the house and that they weren't allowed to use the blunt blades. But when Jonathan was absolutely sure that father wouldn't be home when they trained, he let Clarissa use the blunted swords. The last thing he wanted was for her to accidentally impale herself while she was still learning to use it. She'd been training with a sword for over a year, but she wasn't old enough for father to let her go past the basics.

"Don't call me that," she bit back.

"Why should I stop? It's not like you can make me."

Clarissa gripped her sword with two hands and attempted to bring it down on Jonathan's head.

Jonathan dodged easily and smacked her left arm with the flat of his blade. "Use one hand. It's not a longsword." Jonathan paused. "Little Bird," he added.

He was adding kindling to a fire and was loving every second of it. She's been sleeping restlessly for the last week, keeping him awake with her constant movement. He hasn't slept or more than three hours combined over the last four days and it's made him a little more vindictive than he normally was with her. And he was hoping that the added exhaustion from today would make her a little more tired tonight.

"Jonathan, if you keep calling me that, I'm going to take your head off. I don't care what Father will say." Her breathing was laboured but right now she didn't care about slowing the fight down to help her recovery, she only cared about making her brother stop using that ridiculous nickname.

"You don't think Father will get creative with a punishment if you killed his most useful child? That's assuming you could even leave a cut on me." Jonathan emphasized his point by purposefully cutting of a lock of her hair with his sword.

Clarissa watched her hair fall and resolved to shaving her brother's precious white hair off while he sleeps. "Oh please. You're just jealous that Father loves me more than you."

"Be careful, Little Bird. You're wandering into a dangerous territory," Jonathan warned.

"Did I strike a nerve? Johnny's mad that Father doesn't love you like he loves me? But saying that Father even loves you is a stretch, I'd struggle to say that Father even likes you. You're only still here because soon, you'll be able to do the work that he doesn't want to do."

"Clarissa…" He warned.

"Sorry. I thought that as long as you were calling me 'Little Bird' I was allowed to call you Johnny." She knew exactly what to say to get under his skin. "And I'm only really point out things that should be obvious to both of us."

Jonathan disarmed her within two seconds. He had her on her back with his sword at her neck in four.

Clarissa let tears cloud her vision and whimpered. "Jonathan, that hurt," she whimpered. "I'm sorry." Her voice cracked. "I didn't mean it, you know that."

For a moment, he thought that he had really hurt her, that he had lost control and really hurt her. It was only a second, but it was all she needed.

Clarissa bent to kick Jonathan's wrist, sending his sword flying, then scissor kicked with the other leg, trying to kick him in the crotch.

Jonathan recovered quickly. He grabbed her leg and held it at his waist, immobilizing her. He drove his knee into her chest to keep her on the ground and pressed hit forearm against her throat.

"That was good. You almost had me, Little Bird."

Jonathan always had to be in control and thinking that he got angry and couldn't control his own strength was something that he hated. And thinking that, even for second, and hurt his sister more that he planned to, was terrifying.

"I did have you. I saw the look on your face. If I had another second, I could've gotten my sword back."

"Maybe if you had that extra second. But you didn't." Jonathan took his weight off her body. "Consider today a loss, Little Bird."

* * *

"Why do you hate when I call you Jon or Johnny?"

"The same reason why you hate when I call you Little Bird."

"The reasons aren't the same. Yours is just a short form of your name. 'Little Bird' is insulting and degrading. I'm not helpless."

"I called you 'Little Bird' because when mundanes see an injured bird, they want to help it, the same way that people would want to help you if you asked properly. And you just proved that it's accurate. But I'll stop calling you that if you never shorten my name again."

"Deal," she agreed.


End file.
